Northwestern University has agreed to a controversial settlement with pro-Palestinian protesters encamped on its campus this week, including a commitment for scholarships for Palestinians, Palestinian faculty appointments, and special housing for Muslim students. The protesters will also be allowed to continue their protests while agreeing to stay in a particular area of campus. It will also put the students and supporting faculty on bodies to review any university investments and purchases, a major demand from supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Previously, protesters had reportedly prevented some students and faculty from entering buildings and engaged in property damage.
The Daily Northwestern reported the details of the deal and noted
“the University has committed to provide a conduit for students to engage with the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees. It will also re-establish an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility this fall, which will include students, faculty and staff.
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In addition, the University committed to some support for Palestinian students and faculty in the agreement. NU will ‘support visiting Palestinian faculty and students at risk,’ and will provide the cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates to attend Northwestern.
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The University also committed to providing an ‘immediate temporary space for MENA/Muslim students’ — a longtime demand from students on campus — and will provide and renovate a house for MENA/Muslims students as soon as possible. The final house is expected to come in 2026.”
It also includes a commitment of the university to intervene with employers to guarantee that students suffer no consequences for participating in protests in their jobs and internships.
Northwestern (my alma mater) has always chosen the path of least resistance when it comes to protesters, including at times surrendering core academic functions. I have been particularly critical of the loss of freedom of speech and academic integrity on campus.
Students previously succeeded in cancelling a speech by former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Student Zachery Novicoff embodied the rising intolerance to free speech on campus. He is quoted as saying “There’s a limitation to free speech. That ends at overtly racist old white dudes.”
I criticized former Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro for his lack of support for free speech on campus. Schapiro denounced what he called “absolute” free speech positions and endorsed speech sanctions, including treating speech as a form of assault.
During his tenure, the university often seemed a mere pedestrian to mob action taken against dissenting voices. For example, we previously discussed a Sociology 201 class by Professor Beth Redbird that examined “inequality in American society with an emphasis on race, class and gender.” To that end, Redbird invited both an undocumented person and a spokesperson for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is the type of balance that is now considered verboten on campuses.
Members of MEChA de Northwestern, Black Lives Matter NU, the Immigrant Justice Project, the Asian Pacific American Coalition, NU Queer Trans Intersex People of Color and Rainbow Alliance organized to stop other students from hearing from the ICE representative. However, they could not have succeeded without the help of Northwestern administrators (including Dean of Students Todd Adams). The protesters were screaming “F**k ICE” outside of the hall. Adams and the other administrators then said that the protesters screaming profanities would be allowed into the class if they promised not to disrupt the class. Really? They were screaming profanities and seeking to stop the class but would just sit nicely as the speaker answered questions?
Of course, that did not happen. As soon as the protesters were allowed into the classroom, they prevented the ICE representative from speaking. The ICE official eventually left and Redbird canceled the class to discuss the issue with the protesters that just prevented her students from hearing an opposing view.
The comments of the Northwestern students were predictable after being told by people like Schapiro that some offensive speech should be treated as a form of assault. SESP sophomore April Navarro rejected that faculty should be allowed to invite such speakers to their classrooms for a “good, nice conversation with ICE.” She insisted such speakers needed to be silenced because they “terrorize communities” and profit from detainee labor. Here is the face of the new generation of censors being shaped by speech-intolerant academics like Schapiro:
“We’re not interested in having those types of conversations that would be like, ‘Oh, let’s listen to their side of it’ because that’s making them passive rule-followers rather than active proponents of violence. We’re not engaging in those kinds of things; it legitimizes ICE’s violence, it makes Northwestern complicit in this. There’s an unequal power balance that happens when you deal with state apparatuses.”
Last year, the Northwestern student body banned press from meetings to protect students from the harm of media coverage. The students also have previously frozen funds of conservative groups.
The Northwestern journalism faculty is little better. Steven Thrasher, the Daniel H. Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting at Northwestern, who trashed a reporter who waited for the facts before reporting on a police shooting.
Of course, it is not just conservative speakers that the students want to ban. In 2021, they called for the removal of the President of the Board of Trustees. Despite being a major donor and supporter of the school, J. Landis Martin was denounced as a Republican who donated money to former President Donald Trump.
The university issued a statement that “This path forward requires the immediate removal of tents on Deering Meadow, cessation of non-approved use of amplified sound and a commitment that all conduct on Deering and across campus will comply with all University rules and policies. Compliant demonstration can continue at Deering Meadow through June 1.”
The university has long lacked the fortitude to stand up to students engaging in disruptive protests.
The danger of such passivity is evident on our campuses. As Henry David Thoreau warned, “all rivers and most corrupt men follow the path of least resistance.”
Here is the Northwestern agreement.
The Northwestern, Columbia, et al. way to dealing with spoiled, law-breaking, rights-violating “protestors” — appeasement.
Then there’s the Florida way — a backbone:
“This is not complicated. The University of Florida is not a day care, and we do not treat protesters like children—they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences.”
(1) A few days ago, some of us made reference to the “nip it in the bud” tactic successfully used by our parents…too late here, n’est ce pas?……
(2) Weeks ago, some of us referenced our belief that outside actors were involved in these student protests (as we did during previous scenes/uprisings in recent years, e.g., Portland/BLM). Such notions have long been dismissed as “conspiracy theories.”
(Ah, that catch-all dismissive response.)
—But today and yesterday, media, yes, media, is willing to report the involvement of “outside agitators” (ABC) and “persons not affiliated with the university” (NBC).
(3) There is no longer any doubt that this insidious political effort has permeated throughout the structural bones of our country (academia, media, corporate, governmental, political) by global actors wanting to bring down the United States and all it stands for,
then share/re-distribute our accomplishments, success, and wealth. In other words, as I have previously said, reduce to the lowest common denominator, then proceed to rebuild with a “social-justice” DEI-redistribution,— irrespective of merit/earned achievement/or contribution. We continue to placate, grovel, acquiesce, cave in, -fearful of widespread destruction…..
Yikes. Someone tell me a funny joke.
Or give me chocolate milk.
There was an opinion piece in the WSJ last week about the financing of protests. There are career paid protesters as well as some student stipends for a few thousand dollars for a few months of part-time work.
The subtitle: Rockefeller and Soros grants are subsidizing those who disrupt college campuses.
The last line: Meantime, Congress and the Internal Revenue Service might want to examine whether the grants fit the charitable purposes defined in the tax code.
Loved the last line!
Lin, the secret of a happy marriage is to go out to dinner 3 times a week…I go Mon, Wed and Fri and my wife goes Tues, Thurs and Saturday. Apologies to Rodney Dangerfield.
Lin, what is Joe Biden’s response? Let Hamas terrorists migrate to America. As the leader of the anti-semitic Nazi Party, I wouldn’t expect anything else from Joe.
“. . . a controversial settlement with pro-Palestinian [read: pro-genocide, pro-totalitarian] . . .”
So much for the idea of not negotiating with terrorists, their supporters and sympathizers.
Feckless U! “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war – later.” ~Winston S. Churchill
You all know that was me!
Sorry Mespo, I thought Samuel Johnson started commenting here.
hb:
Now that’s high praise. Gracias!
mespo….good one!
Too many so-called “administrators” at today’s so-called “universities” have no backbone. If they knew anything about living and working in the real world, they could not conjure up more despicable ways to cave in to the anti-Semite and pro-terrorist demands of evildoers.
At the University of New Mexico, after a couple of days in Soros Tents on the campus and another day of criminally occupying and vandalizing the Student Union Building, there were arrests. Sixteen arrests. Notably, only five were UNM students. Does anyone else wonder if the mobs at other campuses are also at least 2/3 terrorists, outsiders, etc.?
Shame on Northwestern for kowtowing to the demands of the Islamists. now that the camel has got its nose inside the tent, I wonder what the next Islamist demands will be? female students forced to wear the hijab, halal food for all in the cafeterias?
This will provide a safe space for the newcomers that Biden is allegedly going to be bringing into the USA. Reportedly, he is planning to bring many Palestinians here to join the party. No idea how many or when, but it’s nice to know that Northwestern will welcome them.
Will Northwestern also provide separate but equal housing for blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, and whites? Maybe separate sections for LGBTQ? Will each have their own proportion of lecturers/professors? Is this really the path forward?
Today is May 1st. A big day for the Democrat Party.
Today they celebrate the immigration of 15 million illegal aliens to take the jobs of American workers.
These illegals bring with them hate, ignorance, violence, disease and no respect for our laws or country.
But you know they are going to assimilate and adopt our way of living….but will they learn to speak English? How many calls do you get today from people that don’t speak English? Know things will get better….joe says so!
The best applicants will be doing the same as their parents and grandparents in retirement and heading south to go to school. The liberal universities will suffer, not from lack of applicants, but from lack of more qualified applicants. I look for some schools to go back to using SATs and other tests to remain competitive, but some will continue down the DEI road to ruin.
This proves all fools aren’t dead yet.
Well I was pleasantly surprised that my Alma Mater, Emory University in Atlanta, had the protesters arrested for trespassing on the quadrangle and also alerted people to the fact that 8 of the 28 arrestees were not students. Sounds like the local Antifa crowd have ditched their usual black uniforms and wore mufti (original English meaning, civilian clothes).
As far as Northwestern is concerned maybe the Big 10 could do with one less university. Bring back the University of Chicago.
That is the epitome of “bad parenting” that allowed this non-sense to take place to begin with. “Don’t you do that, or I will …. ! ” The child hears and does it anyway but NOTHING HAPPENED. There was no deterrent, no consequence or accounting for their actions. And folks wonder what is happening to America? Take their “expensive” phones away and watch things improve almost overnight, is likely possible!
Compare Northwestern, and Cornell, with University of Texas, and the University of Florida.
There is clear delineation of priorities of the these colleges.
Those that take their responsibility to make sure students feel safe and are free in their pursuit of education, paid for by their tuition.
Those that ignore their purpose and cede control of campus safety.
The later, while led by a building full of administrators and leaders with multiple Ph D’s hanging on their office wall, supported by multiple Masters degrees. Despite their superior intellect, they are total clueless to Neville Chamberlian. I bet they could not place the name on a History Time Line.
Those that ignore history are forced to repeat history.
A smart man learns from his mistake. It is a genius that learns from the mistake of others.
The conclusion learned from this dichotomy of responses, informs us, both camps are reaping exactly the crop they have sewn.
They made a better choice than what most conservatives want. Which is use violence to quell protests and limit students free speech rights.
Professor Turley’s advocacy and support for free speech is predicated on the assumption that only civil, quiet and orderly protests should be allowed and within a confined zone within a limited time. Thats not free speech. That’s moderation to limit the inconvenience of protests and their disruptive nature.
The constitution places no limits on how a protest can be conducted. It places limits on government limitations and prevents government from stifling anyone’s right to critics or advocate for a cause regardless of how disruptive or obnoxious it is.
The fact that the pro-Palestinian protests are annoying many conservative shows that they are having an effect. Why universities and conservative critics want is to stifle their effectiveness. It’s the equivalent of shouting down a speaker which Turley clearly opposes.
Sending in police or the National guard incites the violence they use as an excuse to shut down the protests. Which is literally a hecklers veto.
This university did the right thing. It sought a resolution while still maintaining students free speech rights. Turley should be giving credit to the university and the students for coming up with a viable alternative to violence and suppression.
That is so wrong
Students have a right to fee movement.
Students have a contractual power to attend class and all the campus amenities, free from fear.
Put another way
Your right to swing your fist, ends at my nose.
By coming to an agreement with the protesters students can attend class and have access to all campus amenities free from fear and students get some meaningful, rational results from their protest. Why would that be wrong?
By coming to an agreement with the protesters students
Yep. Appeasement of Mobs calling for the genocide of all Jews. That did not end will in Germany. Now that 99.99% of our WWII vets are dead, you feel safe in your open jew hatred.
You. Are. An. Idiot
“You. Are. An. Idiot”
No, he is a Nazi idiot.
@Iowan2,
You want punishment. You want students punished for exercising their free speech rights. You won’t like how they are doing it and want to punish them for it. Apparently you are anti-free speech.
Reaching a peaceful solution robs you of the gratifying feeling of seeing students punished for exercising their right to protest and free speech. Smarter people prevailed and you just can’t stand it so you resort to denigrating and demagogic accusations. You seem to want violence over a peaceful resolution.
It places limits on government limitations and prevents government from stifling anyone’s right to critics or advocate for a cause regardless of how disruptive or obnoxious it is.
Donald Trump agrees with you
Jan 6 was an inside job, replete with FBI, CIA, Capitol police ANTIFA dressed as Trump supporters to cause chaos. Ask Nancy why she didn’t want to testify at the made for TV J6 investigation? You can hate on Trump all you want, but he asked people to go peacefully to the Capitol. I guess you’re fine with people held in prison for 3 years without charges in direct conflict with their 6th Amendment rights. It’s people like you who are tearing this country apart with your BS and lack of knowledge of what the govt is doing.
No, he doesn’t. He wants the opposite. He wants to suppress protests through the use of force by employing the national guard or the police. He’s anti-free speech
Trump was in office for 4 years. His actions prove you wrong. . . AGAIN
The Constitution doesn’t put any restraints on free speech, it does however put restraint on assembly. Assemblies are to be peaceful. Maybe you should take a good look at the 1st Amendment. Violently tearing up property, hurting people and calling for the death of others is not peaceful assembly.
The constitution is silent on how assemblies should behave. No law exists that mandates protests must be peaceful. It only suggests that protest be peaceful. Requiring they be peaceful by law would violate the 1st amendment. It would be forced speech by the government.
“Violently tearing up property, hurting people and calling for the death of others is not peaceful assembly.”
Jan 6 was not a peaceful assembly by your claim.
Calling for the death of others is protected speech. Chanting “death to America” is protected speech. Chanting, “death to republicans” or “death to democrats” is protected speech.
“The constitution is silent on how assemblies should behave.”
Your fabrications are becoming too obvious.
The Constitution speaks loudly about how “assemblies should behave:”
“. . . *peaceably* to assemble . . .” (emphasis added)
“No law exists that mandates protests must be peaceful.”
That is mind-numbingly ignorant or deceptive.
There are laws against disturbing the peace all over the country. And laws against blocking traffic, occupying property you don’t own, and destroying property.
This is why the Left is now so disreputable: It encourages and permits its protestors any manner of illegal and destructive behavior.
@Sam,
You should pay attention to the word “should”. The constitution doesn’t state that it’s a requirement. It only states that the right of the people to peaceably assemble shall not be infringed. It’s not a requirement or a mandate that assembly MUST be peaceable.
Then why are so many J6ers rotting in jail? Oh yeah, the Conservatives put them there!
Linda, George gave himself an impossible task. Calling for freedom of Hamas agents in the United States, calling for the death of all Jews, and then explaining how citizens seeking redress of their grievances is somehow a crime.
I would have preferred the “settlement” offered by the Pro Israel group to the UCLA terrorist last night.
This “settlement” is an abomination! It is tantamount to a sanction of Hamas itself. The American People are close to rage over this kind of appeasement of lunatic behavior. We sense that academia is so broken that it is not worth saving, much less supporting. Perhaps the impending collapse of public support is the answer. At least it offers the opportunity to rebuild higher education on the grave of the old.
Seems fair.
Northwestern is an exemplar of acquiescence to the neo-Marxist mob. Check that. Thinly disguised willing collaboration. The demon-baby of fascistic leftism has incubated among elite school faculty and administration for decades. I lived through the formative era at Dartmouth in the early ’80s.
Defund Northwestern.
Appeasement until they come and kill you and yours in the middle of the night.